Integrated weed management in jute (Corchorus ofiton'us)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Barrackpore during 2003-2005 to find out suitable eco-friendly and remunera- tive integrated weed-control approaches for jute cv W O 524i (eNavini). Cultural, organic and integrated chemical weed-control methods were found better than conventional manual weeding twice. In cultural method, smothering of weeds by leafy vegetable mixtures [red amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor L., cv Babakusumi), white amaranth (Amarantus spp.) and summer radish (Raphanus sativus L. cv Paus mulai] in jute, reduced the dry matter of weeds up to 45% when the field was dominated by grasses and broad-leaf weeds. This was followed by two manual weedings which gave 3.57 tlha jute fibre (along with 2.9 tlha red amaranth, 0.6 tlha white amaranth and 0.7 tlha summer radish, respectively). The organic approach, rice straw mulch @ 10 tlha and mixed cropping with same vegetables, followed by one manual weeding produced 3.9 tlha jute fibre (1.15, 0.64 and 0.94 tlha red and white amaranth and summer radish, respectively). It reduced the dry matter of weeds by 68 to 82%. In integrated chemical approach, spray of quizalofop ethyl (DT,, c Id) Q 60 glha + dhanuvit @ 0.5 to 0.6 Ilha (adjuvant) at 21 DAE combined with 1 hand weeding produced 3.87 tlha jute fibre. The benefit : cost ratio from conventional, cul- tural, organic and chemical approaches was l .50, .57, 2.1 9 and l .66 respectively. The residue of quizalofop ethyl l was found below the detectable limit (0.84 to 4.2 ppm) within 8 days of its application.